Flying to the rescue.

Matt Harris’ nephew was pulled off a mountain after a ski accident, Jonathan Callaghan’s sister was airlifted from a farm after a horse-riding accident – now it’s payback time for the pair and two colleagues taking part in the rescue helicopter fundraising challenge.And they’re looking for support.

The quartet from Babbage Consultant’s Christchurch office are competing in the challenge run by the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust and aim to raise $5000 for the trust and its work. For Matt and Jonathan it’s personal – Matt’s nephew Louis was airlifted from Coronet Peak in 2016 after a skiing accident and Jonathan’s sister Grace was plucked from a Methven farm in 2015 – while Milad Aminmansour has seen the service in action and for activity-loving Mark Yungnickel it’s insurance: he understands he may need it himself one day.

“All of us recognise it could be any one of us one day – a sports injury, a car accident, a medical emergency,” Matt says. “It’s a great service and we want to help.”

The trust provides air rescue services to the largest single geographical area in New Zealand with more than 600,000 people, and is carrying out an average of three missions a day. But only half of the trust’s costs are funded by the Government, so the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust has to raise $7 million from the community each year to provide professional air rescue and air ambulance services.

Twenty-four teams from Canterbury have taken up the corporate challenge, which runs for six weeks from February 1 – each with a target of raising $5000 and competing in a mystery fitness challenge on March 4. The winning organisation has its logo added to the rescue helicopter for a year.

For the Babbage team the challenge is part of the consultancy’s commitment to the region and a chance to work together as a team outside of their usual environment.